Saturday, November 16, 2013

There' been so much news about the total incompetence of Barack the Terrible and his masterminds regarding the abysmally failing launch of the worst biggest entitlement in the history of mankind that other news has tended to fall by the wayside -- not that this story is something the leftist Obama media has any interest in covering. But while head Marxist mastermind Barack the Terrible and his "health care" minion masterminds are demonstrating their total and complete incompetence, the equally incompetent masterminds over at Obama's Federal Communications Commission are devising a plan to co-opt our free speech:

The Federal Communications Commission is planning a broad probe of
political speech across media platforms, an unprecedented move that
raises serious First Amendment concerns.
The FCC’s proposed “Multi-Market Study of Critical Information
Needs,” which is set to begin a field test in a single market with an
eye toward a comprehensive study in 2014, would collect a remarkably
wide range of information on demographics, point of view, news topic
selection, management style and other factors in news organizations both
in and out of the FCC’s traditional purview.

"Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs" -- well isn't that special! What does this leftist gobbledegook mean? This:

A methodology [pdf]
worked up by Silver Spring, Maryland-based Social Solutions
International (SSI) says that in addition to its general evaluation of
news content, the survey will include a “qualitative component”
featuring interrogations of news organization owners, management and
employees.
Among the questions federal contractors will be asking of private media companies:For media owners:
“What is the news philosophy of the station?”For editors, producers and managers:
“Do you have any reporters or editors assigned to topic ‘beats’? If so how many and what are the beats?”
“Who decides which stories are covered?”For reporters:
“Have you ever suggested coverage of what you consider a story with
critical information for your customers (viewers, listeners, readers)
that was rejected by management?” (Followup questions ask the reporter
to speculate on why a particular story was spiked.)

Can you say none of your f'in business? Because the "news philosophy" of a particular station should be no concern of the federal government. Because it's none of the government's damn business which stories station management and reporters feel are newsworthy and which stories aren't newsworthy. But not according to Barack the Terrible's leftist FCC chair, Mignon Clyburn, who was apparently named after a cut of meat:

“The FCC has a duty to make sure that the industries it regulates serve
the needs of the American public no matter where they live or what
financial resources they have,” acting FCC chairwoman Mignon Clyburn
said in a May announcement [pdf]
of the survey. “The research design we announce today is an important
next step in understanding what those needs are, how Americans obtain
the information critical to their daily lives in a dynamic technological
environment, and what barriers exist in our media ecologies to
providing and accessing this information.”

Leftist bullshit for "we want to stick our noses into something that is none of our business -- what information Americans receive and how they receive it -- and intervene if we think "barriers exist in our media ecologies to providing and accessing information". And this statement when uttered by this leftist means "As leftist bureaucrats, we are heavily invested in perpetuating the canard that conservative radio is over-represented on the airwaves. Therefore, in order to better serve the needs of the American public, we find that it is necessary to re-instate the Fairness Doctrine so that "progressive" voices are more represented so that there is once again "balance in our media ecologies". In other words we want to re-instate censorship and suppress the successful free-market voices of conservatism that currently thrive on American airwaves so we can uplift leftist voices that failed in the free market.

GW Bush's former FCC commissioner's response to this affront to everyone's free speech was decidely tepid:

“In this study, the FCC will delve into the editorial discretion of
newspapers, web sites and radio and TV stations,” Hudson Institute
Fellow Robert McDowell, who served as an FCC commissioner from 2009 to
2013, told The Daily Caller. “This starts sticking the government’s nose
into what has traditionally been privileged and protected ground.
Regardless of one’s political stripes, one should be concerned.”

"Concerned" would be one way to put this. Another would be to say that the leftist anti First Amendment Nazi's are on the march with Barack the Mignon in the lead.